Is A.S.D. a major handicap to creating characters in fiction

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Hallo.

     I'm wondering whether having autism or Asperger's syndrome would be a major handicap for creating good characters in fiction, or even preclude it altogether.
     For most of my life, I wanted to write stories, and began in childhood writing children's adventure stories rather in the manner of Enid Blyton, but far less skillfully; then, in early adulthood, I tried to write stories of more depth with more subtlety in the characterization. I think my writing style and skill improved enormously, and maybe my characters improved a bit too, although maybe not greatly (it's very difficult to judge this yourself), and I think I tended to create characters rather like myself, and maybe when I tried to create characters very different from myself they tended not to be so effective or convincing, and may give the impression of only going through the motions. More recently I have tended not to write fiction at all, for a variety of reasons which I needn't go into now. I've never felt that creating and developing characters is my strongest writing skill, and have tended to find it a bit of a strain, although sometimes a character seemed to come out well almost naturally and effortlessly.
     I am wondering whether my difficulty in developing characters and tendency to create ones similar to myself is a particular consequence of the probable fact that I have what appears to be a fairly severe form of Asperger's, or whether it may just be due to some lack of writing skill generally.
     Does anyone know about this? Does anyone write fiction, and either succeed at it or fail for some reason, and do they have any thoughts on this? Has any scientific research been done on this?
     The reason I think this could be an issue is that Asperger's and autism seem in essence to be a difficulty in understanding and empathizing with other people, and exactly this quality would seem to be needed to create good fictional characters.
     I would be interested to hear from anyone on this, as I occasionally get an urge to try writing stories again, but wonder if it is one of the very things someone with my condition would find an uphill battle to do, and whether I might even be wasting my time. (I tend to be dissatisfied if I do something but know it's not all that good, and put little value on just trying to do something for the sake of trying it, and valuing it indepedently of its quality.)
     Thanks.

Regards, Michael.

I don't think it would impose on anyone's ability to write characters. I written one and a half characters so far (However, I am lazy and don't write). Then again, everyone's "disability" is different.

It all depends.

In my original fiction, it's the names which I find hard.

I find that original characters that I create tend to be rather two-dimensional. I can create entire civilizations with depth and color, but not individuals. My characterizations of canon characters in fanfiction are usually dead-on, though.

Regards,

Patricia

I don't know about characters. I think I could create a character just fine, but they'd probably be asperger's. =p My problem is with creativity, I basically have none to create a fiction story with.

The only reason As would cause a difficulty creating fictional characters would be if you bought into that notion that we are incapable of empathy. If you can't imagine what another person might be experiencing, then it would impossible to describe a fictional character going through something that you have not.

However, I subscribe the the notion that Aspies shy away from social contact because we experience such an overabundance of empathy that it can become almost physically painful at times. It's either that, or I'm sensing that 'auric vibration' that eastern philosophers have been describing for centuries, and it's waaay too noisy for my taste.

In any case, there's nothing that should be stopping you except your own belief in your abilities. Sometimes personal life experience and maturity can make you better at describing things (especially emotional things) than you might have done at a younger age. I started a novel in the latter part of the 1980s and was really enjoying the process, until I realized I had created scenes that were so far-flung I could no longer keep an overall sense of where the story was going - it felt out of control and overwhelming. So that project lies still unfinished, but not hopelessly so.

A little over a year ago, a new story presented itself to me and simply would not let me rest until I began putting it down on paper. It's been slow going - some days I write a lot, some days nothing at all, but this time I'm trying to force myself to keep it moving along in in a more linear sense, without getting too sidetracked along the way. So far it's working quite well. I didn't put together an outline until I already had nearly a third of the story down; still scenes pop into my head out of nowhere that fill in gaps very nicely. In a way, I'm learning to let the story write itself. I just put down what I see in my head.

I don't know if any of this long ramble will be of any help to you, but I will tell you this about writing characters you feel are too much you: They're all you. That's all they can be. They are, each and every one of them, just a fragment of your own psyche. You couldn't possibly create a character whose experiences and emotions didn't in any way resemble your own. How would you know what that felt like? You have to at least be able to imagine what that experience might be like, and the only way to do that is to compare it to something you have experienced. That is essentially the simple definition of imagination.

In my current work, I have incorporated all my classic AS symptoms into one character - he's not intended to be me exactly, but he's certainly more like me than any one of the other characters. Still, the experiences and emotion all the other characters go through are things I understand: guilt, anger, regret, etc. If i stub my toe, I can only assume it feels the same to me as it would to any NT, or even a homicidal sociopath. A toe is a toe is a toe. So, I wouldn't fret too much that all your characters seem like you to you. To a reader who doesn't know you, they're just human characters. Or Alien characters as the case may be.

Look at that - I just wrote another book.

This site is a useful tool for character names - it'll even help you create names that are natural and plausible for a historical period other than your own:

http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/

This may actually be a part of the problem, but I've managed to off-set it to a certain extent by doing massive amounts of research for each situation. I don't allow the characters to react to situations the way I think I would, but the range of ways the psychological journals say they would. I don't have trouble working this way with an established character and keeping them in character, but original characters just don't seem to have the depth I'm looking for.

Regards,

Patricia

I'm good at making up characters. I create lists about them, from their age to their shoe size to their favorite food. It's creating a plot and the dialogue between them that's a challenge.

Good at making up characters (try to make them interesting & as in-cliche`(not cliche`) as possible (does not always work though).

My problems when writing stories are:

1. Making sure plot line & story itself coheres well & makes sense in a logical manner which can be easily followed (issue b/c some of my characters & their situations are very complicated)
2. Really bad grammar skills (not just typos) I mean BAD

I've learned how to work symbolism though; I even managed to write trope poems (poems where you use different words to symbolize other words/things (ex. a dead person or corpse/lily board) (I think of dead things are stiff & pale), etc. I ended up writing a trope that had sexual content unintentionally (Really, I did not realize which phrases could mean what until a NT friend pointed it out, than I managed to flip it so I used a different gender ratio/for practice so I could learn how to recognize when I was doing this) Who else would need to learn that to prevent weird miss haps?!

p.s. Sorry if I freak anyone out or break any rules w/o realizing it .

read the dune books and tell me frank herbert wasn't autistic.

It's never been an issue for me.

I think we can compensate by using imagination (Then again I still have to write down my novel). Try to figure out why peoples act the way they do. It's something I always do and tend to be better a this game that a lot of NTs. I think he can help to figure out characters motivation.

What make you think that Frank Herbert was autistic ?

Every character I make is based off parts of myself. Like one character would have my hyperactiveness, another character would have my soberiety, and a third would have my feminine personality. Though every now and then I create a character based off someone (like read Betting World if you want to see characters based off another person.)

As for making characters based off myself, I think that's the best way to go since you know yourself best. The only thing I would do is make different characters take part(s) of your personality. As Mel Brooks would say:

Works best for you, and it works best for me. They call it the autobiographical method.

I don't think I'm capable of writing fiction. At least I didn't like it when I was forced to in school.

I only like writing characters in the first person perspective. I hate written dialogue.

Well, there's your problem... No one should be forced to write fiction. You write fiction because you want to .

I don't write 'good' fiction, but I do write stories.. What I do is let the story play out in my mind? What's the situation, who's the character, how do they react to the situation you put them in, what happens next?

I don't know if this is an established rule; but the way I consider good character development is make me care. Does it matter if bad or good things happen to them? You can only write what you know, or what you've seen around you.

I throw the 'bones' in a story; here's the person, here's what happens, here's how it ends. I usually have this figured out before I really start writing. It can be as simple as a phrase. The character, of course is you; the trick is not to too-closely identify with the character (this is known as being a Mary Sue...

I do have to go back sometimes to remember what they look like; usually you start off with a simple description; what do they look like? This is your first bookmark; the rest of the story fleshes them out.

I actually have been reminded to put in better descriptions. But there's always going to be something to perfect, this is true for everyone.

No reason you can't write, if you want to.